That verge, was it a blessing, or perhaps a calamity?
The boundary of the abyss now begins to warp, silently.
The Papal Dominion—
Within a certain shelter encampment.
In a corner of the refugee quarters, from which the white stone tower could be seen in the distance.
On either side of the road leading to the tower, upon the blighted land, white canvas tents stood crowded together.
The hour was already past sunset.
The refugees who had fled from the merciless ravaging of a foreign land pressed their palms together before them and offered prayers toward the setting sun.
As if hiding itself from the calamities of this world, the sun once again sank beneath the horizon.
The refugees gazed upon that crimson glow with something like envy, then quietly bowed their heads, praying as always for an early return to their homeland.
From one of the tents, a woman's high voice rang out—
"Dinner's ready!"
The mother cupped her hands, both of them covered in beans and bruises, around her mouth and called out to her children, who were likely playing nearby.
But there was no reply.
She stepped out of the tent and scanned the surroundings. Smoke from cooking fires drifted in the air; people were pausing before their own tents. Yet the brother and sister she had called were nowhere to be seen.
"Honestly… how far did they wander off today?"
It was the usual thing.
It would not be strange for the flames of war to reignite at any moment. She had told them so many times not to go far.
But she knew well enough that mere scolding could not stifle a child's pure curiosity.
After all, they were at that age—curious as sparrows in early spring.
No matter how many times she warned them, they would disobey and slip off on some adventure. It had become almost routine.
"Honestly… when they get back, I'll give them an earful."
Still, when they grew hungry, they would come home obediently.
That, too, was the usual thing.
The mother sighed softly and turned back into the camp.
The scent of freshly made soup rose from the humble pot.
"Alright, here I go! This time, catch it for real!"
"Okay, I'm ready!"
Away from the residential area, on one bank where two cliffs faced each other.
Beneath a sky slowly staining red, a young brother and sister, barely of age, were stealing away from their parents' watch to play with a ball.
"There—ah!"
Perhaps he had put too much force into it; the ball left the boy's hand, arced wide, and flew off in an unexpected direction.
It bounced on the ground, rolled, and then, as if drawn toward the edge of a gully, it approached the brink.
"Shit… my hand slipped!"
"Hey! You threw it way too hard!"
The ball, their only plaything, plunged straight down the cliffside, as if beckoned by something.
From the way it fell, it was clear they would not get it back.
"Ah… no good. That's gone. We'll just have to give up."
The boy's shoulders slumped. But beside him, his sister stared fixedly at the edge of the cliff.
Maybe—maybe it was caught somewhere down there.
Clutching that faint hope, she ran to the cliff.
And peered carefully into the dark, deep chasm that separated the two bluffs.
"Idiot! Don't go near it!"
"…"
What spread out before her was a fissure of pitch black.
Deep. An abyss that led nowhere.
In her line of sight, darkness without a visible bottom writhed, and a damp wind groaned as it crawled upward.
"Hey, that's dangerous… what if you fall?!"
Her brother's shout did not reach her. Fearless, the girl kept looking over the precipice.
She did not mean to do anything special. She was only looking for the ball.
She was not certain that it had really fallen.
Maybe, far, far below, someone was there and would kindly toss the ball back up.
"H-hey… that's enough. It's getting dark. Let's go home."
Despite her brother's frightened voice, the girl's optimistic thoughts, like summer clouds, did not stop.
But at last—
"It's not there." Her young voice sank into the gloomy depths.
In that instant—
At the edge of her vision, something glinted.
"What's that?"
From deep within the mist‑soaked, moss‑covered rock face, a faint glow seeped forth.
"A jewel…?"
It was a strange light.
There, where it lay submerged in unlit darkness, the stone quietly shone, bearing a multitude of colors.
As if it were gently refusing the fate of being painted over entirely in black within the dark.
"Brother, look. It's a jewel."
"Huh…?"
"Come see. It's so pretty."
The boy cautiously walked to his sister's side and followed her gaze from behind her.
An instant later…
As though drawing breath, the jewel flashed brightly.
"—!"
Slicing through the fathomless black, blades of vivid red, blue, yellow, and green interwove in overlapping layers. A pulsing iridescent torrent flooded into the eyes of the one who beheld it.
Blinded by the searing light, the girl instinctively jerked her head back and covered her eyes with both hands.
"Ahhh!"
"Sera! I—I told you! Quick, let's hurry home!"
Was it a blessing, or perhaps a calamity?
"IT" Suddenly awakened in this secluded land.
As if stitching together the principles of two worlds.
As if layering the calamities of two worlds.
As if winding together the halos of two worlds' memories into a single rainbow.
Like a bewitching light that lures wandering souls.
Dyeing the boundary between this world and the next in iridescent hues.